Bengaluru-based biotechnology startup Mandrake Bio has secured Rs 16 crore in pre-seed funding led by Activate and Antler. The company uses artificial intelligence to design new gene-editing enzymes for agriculture and healthcare. Investors should note the firm is in the early research phase and currently generates no revenue.
Mandrake Bio, a Bengaluru-based biotechnology startup, has closed a Rs 16 crore pre-seed funding round. The investment was co-led by venture capital firms Activate and Antler, with participation from Spectrum Impact, DeVC, and other angel investors. This capital injection marks a critical step for the company as it moves from computational design to physical testing of its proprietary gene-editing enzymes.
AI-Powered Enzyme Development
Unlike traditional gene-editing methods that modify existing enzymes such as CRISPR-Cas9, Mandrake Bio aims to build its enzymes from scratch using artificial intelligence and protein design techniques. By creating enzymes that are programmed computationally, the company hopes to achieve higher specificity and better performance. This focus on de novo design—building biological structures from the ground up—is an emerging area in biotech that seeks to overcome limitations found in natural enzymes.
Strategic Focus on Agriculture
The company has identified two primary markets for its technology: agriculture and human therapeutics. Its immediate roadmap prioritizes the agricultural sector. The company aims to develop enzymes that can help create crops with higher resilience to climate change, potentially reducing the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides. From a business model perspective, Mandrake Bio intends to operate as a technology developer that licenses its proprietary enzyme designs to established seed and therapeutic firms rather than selling consumer-facing products directly.
Operational Risks and Future Milestones
Investors should be aware that Mandrake Bio is currently a pre-revenue company in the early stages of its development cycle. The firm plans to validate its initial laboratory designs over the next two months. This validation process is a significant milestone, as real-world laboratory data is necessary to prove the feasibility of its AI-generated models. Currently, the company operates with a small team of eight people. The newly raised funds are allocated to expanding this team, investing in compute infrastructure for its AI platform, and covering the high costs of wet-lab research. Future financial health and the company’s ability to secure additional funding will likely depend on the success of these upcoming lab tests and the subsequent ability to secure commercial partnerships with industry players. The next critical update to monitor will be the results of its initial laboratory validation, which will determine the company’s progress toward commercializing its enzyme candidates.